Committee to interrogate extradited paramilitaries leaders in US

A committee from Colombia’s Prosecutor General’s Office will travel to the U.S. this week to interview extradited demobilized paramilitary leaders to assess their status of the Justice and Peace process.

According to news site CM&, the prosecutor general’s committee will question the former AUC leaders who have dropped out of the Justice and Peace program to see if they are committed to the process and if they will continue.

Among the prisoners to be interviewed is Salvatore Mancuso who had previously refused to cooperate with the reconciliation process until the security of his family was guaranteed. Mancuso also said he is not able to document the some 7,500 crimes he and his men committed, which he estimated would take over 40 years to confess.

Diego Murillo Bejarano, alias “Don Berna,” and Ramiro Vanoy, alias “Cuco Vanoy,” also discontinued their cooperation with the process, claiming that they and their families were not receiving the security promised to them in the Justice and Peace Law.

The committee will visit prisons in Virginia and Florida, where many of the AUC leaders extradited in May 2008 are currently being held.

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